In general, cardiac pacemakers are electrical devices used to supplant some or all of an abnormal heart's natural pacing function. Pacemakers typically operate to deliver appropriately timed electrical stimulation signals, sometimes called pacing pulses, designed to cause the myocardium to contract or "beat." For state-of-the-art pacemakers, the rate at which stimulation signals are delivered may be variable, and such variation may occur automatically in response to detected changes in a patient's level of physical activity. Such rate- or activity-responsive pacemakers depend on physiologically-based signals, such as signals from sensors which measuring naturally-occurring (intrinsic) cardiac electrical activity, or which measure the pressure inside the patient's ventricle. Such physiologically-based signals provide information regarding cardiac function and the need for pacemaker intervention, and thus are useful for determining a patient's metabolic demand for oxygenated blood.
One popular method for measuring a patient's demand for oxygenated blood is to monitor the patient's level of physical activity by means of a piezoelectric, microphone-like transducer. A pacemaker which employs such a method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,813 to Anderson et al.
In typical prior art rate-responsive pacemakers, the pacing rate is determined according to the output from an activity sensor. The pacing rate is variable between a predetermined maximum and minimum level, which may be selectable by a physician from among a plurality of programmable upper and lower rate limit settings. When the activity sensor output indicates that the patient's activity level has increased, the pacing rate is increased from the programmed lower rate by an incremental amount which is determined as a function of the output of the activity sensor. That is, the rate-responsive or "target" pacing rate in a rate-responsive pacemaker is determined as follows: EQU TargetRate=ProgrammedLowerRate+f (SensorOutput)
where f is typically a linear or monotonic function of the sensor output. As long as patient activity continues to be indicated, the pacing rate is periodically increased by incremental amounts until the rate computed according to the above formula is reached (or until the programmed upper rate limit is reached, whichever is lower). In this way, an elevated pacing rate (i.e., one higher than the programmed lower rate limit) may be sustained during periods of patient activity. When patient activity ceases, the pacing rate is gradually reduced, until the programmed lower rate limit is reached.
For any of the known rate-responsive pacemakers, it is clearly desirable that the sensor output correlate to as high a degree as possible with the actual metabolic and physiologic needs of the patient, so that the resulting rate-responsive pacing rate may be adjusted to appropriate levels. A piezoelectric activity sensor can only be used to indirectly determine the metabolic need. The physical activity sensed by a piezoelectric transducer may in some cases be influenced by upper body motion. Therefore, an exercise that involves arm motion may provide signals that are inappropriately greater than the metabolic need. Conversely, exercises that stimulate the lower body only, such as bicycle riding, may provide a low indication of metabolic need while the actual requirement is higher.
To address these perceived disadvantages in the prior art, it has been proposed to utilize other physiologically-based parameters in assessment of a patient's metabolic demand. Minute ventilation (V.sub.E) has been demonstrated clinically to be a parameter that correlates directly to the actual metabolic and physiologic needs of the patient. Minute ventilation is defined by the equation: EQU V.sub.E =RR.times.TV
where RR=respiration rate in breaths per minute, and TV=tidal volume in liters. Clinically, the measurement of V.sub.E is performed by having the patient breathe directly into a device that measures the exchange of air and computing the total volume per minute. The direct measurement of V.sub.E is not practical with an implanted device. However, measurement of the impedance changes of the thoracic cavity can be implemented with an implanted pacemaker, and transthoracic cardiac impedance has been shown to correlate well with V.sub.E. A pacemaker that is provided with impedance measurement capabilities is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,253 issued to Nappholz et al. on Oct. 27, 1987. The magnitude of the change of the impedance signal corresponds to the tidal volume and the frequency of change corresponds to respiration rate. Thus, measurement of cardiac impedance can be used as one method for obtaining V.sub.E data.
In practice, cardiac impedance can be measured through assessment of the impedance present between two or more cardiac electrodes, such as the electrodes otherwise used for pacing and/or sensing in connection with a cardiac pacemaker. In particular, it has been shown that cardiac impedance can be measured by delivering constant-current excitation pulses between two "source" electrodes, such that the current is conducted through some region of cardiac tissue. The voltage differential between two "recording" electrodes can then be measured to ascertain the impedance as reflected by the voltage differential arising from the conduction of the excitation current pulses through the tissue. Such an impedance measuring technique has proven to be practicable in connection with implantable devices, such as cardiac pacemakers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,110 to Lampadius, there is described a rheographic arrangement for a cardiac pacemaker in which the base pacing rate of the pacemaker is determined, in part, by a rheographically derived respiration rate signal.
Correlation of breathing and intrathoracic pressure fluctuations with impedance of blood in the heart is also recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,576 to Alt, which describes the measurement of impedance between two electrodes. According to the Alt '576 patent, low-pass filtering of the impedance signal yields a signal from which the patient's respiratory rate can be derived, while high-pass filtering of the same signal yields a signal from which the patient's cardiac function can be observed.
There are currently several commercially-available implantable devices which employ rheographic techniques to adjust the pacing rate in response to metabolic needs. For example, the Biorate device manufactured by Biotec International, Bologna, Italy, uses a bipolar rheographic arrangement to monitor the patient's respiration rate. The Meta-MV device manufactured by Telectronics, Inc., Englewood, Colo., uses a tripolar rheographic arrangement to monitor the patient's metabolic demand for oxygenated blood. The Precept device manufactured by CPI, St. Paul, Minn., uses a tetrapolar rheographic configuration to monitor the patient's pre-ejection interval (PEI), stroke volume, and heart tissue contractility.
The Legend Plus.TM. pulse generator, manufactured by Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn. and currently undergoing clinical trials in the United States is another example of an implantable pacemaker which employs rheography in support of its rate-response function. The Legend Plus.TM. delivers a biphasic excitation signal between the pulse generator's canister (serving as an indifferent electrode) and a ring electrode of a transvenous pacing/sensing lead. Impedance sensing in the Legend Plus.TM. is carried out between the lead's tip electrode and the pulse generator canister. The Legend Plus.TM. impedance measuring circuitry generates an impedance waveform in which both respiration and cardiac systole are reflected. This waveform is used by the pacemaker's circuitry to derive a minute ventilation value V.sub.E, as defined above. The Legend Plus.TM. periodically assesses a patient's V.sub.E, and adjusts its base pacing rate up or down in accordance with the metabolic demand reflected in the V.sub.E value. (Various aspects of the Legend Plus.TM. device are described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,395 to Wahlstrand et al, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Rate-Responsive Cardiac Pacing," commonly assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.)
Another disclosure which relates to the use of rheography in connection with an implanted device can be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/233,901 filed on Apr. 28, 1994 in the name of Wahlstrand et al. entitled "Method and Apparatus for Sensing of Cardiac Function", which proposes a method and apparatus for obtaining an impedance waveform. The Wahlstrand et al. application, which relates to the use of a specialized lead for improving the quality of an impedance waveform like that utilized in the aforementioned Legend Plus.TM., is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Yet another disclosure relating to the use of rheography in connection with implantable devices can be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/277,051 filed on Jul. 19, 1994 in the name of Gianni Plicchi et al. entitled "Time-Sharing Multi-Polar Rheography".
As noted above, the utilization of a piezoelectric transducer in a cardiac pacemaker provides a useful but only an indirect indication of a patient's actual level of physical activity, and thus allows for the possibility of false positive or false negative indications of elevated levels of a patient's metabolic demand. The above-noted problem associated with upper body movement is one example of this.
Similarly, the measurement of intracardiac impedance using rheographic techniques provides a useful but somewhat indirect indication of a patient's respiration and cardiac rates, and therefore also allows for the possibility of error in determining a patient's metabolic need. It has been shown that the use of transthoracic impedance to indicate minute ventilation levels has the potential for false positive indications of elevated metabolic demand levels, due to upper body myopotential interference and postural changes. Furthermore, slow-acting physiologic parameters such as transitory blood chemistry changes can also impact impedance measurement.
In addition, basing pacing rate solely on minute ventilation measurements does not always provide an optimum pacing rate increase at the onset of exercise. Tidal volume (TV) and respiration rate (RR) levels have an inherent physiological time delay due to the response of the CO.sub.2 receptors and the autonomic nervous system. An increase in V.sub.E can lag behind the need for increased cardiac output.
On the other hand, activity signals derived from a piezoelectric transducer do not typically exhibit this same time delay phenomenon at the onset of exercise. Moreover, minute ventilation signals derived from transthoracic impedance measurements tend to be more appropriately proportional to a wider variety of types of exercise (e.g., bicycling, walking, running, etc. . . ) than piezoelectric sensor signals tend to be. In this regard, piezoelectric activity signals and transthoracic impedance measurements are mutually complementary in their efficacy in establishing a patient's level of metabolic demand. That is, the potential limitations of each type of sensing are different. This suggests that a combination of activity sensing using a piezoelectric transducer and minute ventilation sensing using rheographic techniques would provide an improved method of accurately tracking a patient's level metabolic demand.